They believe that U.S. policy, not the kingdom's religion-based society, is to blame for fostering extremism that led to the Sept. 11 attacks.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Sheik Mohammed bin Jubeir sat comfortably on a silk-covered couch in his gold-trimmed robe and reflected on the pain Saudi Arabia has endured. Victim is the word he used. The oil-rich desert kingdom is a victim.

"I would like to assure you," Bin Jubeir said, "Saudi Arabia has been a victim. No society in the world is a perfect society. There must be negatives in each society."

American support for Israel remains their excuse d'jour. If they are so concerned about the plight of the poor Pallies, why don't they allow them to immigrate to their huge, lightly populated country? Why would they rather import a maid from the Phillipines or a house boy from Thailand than hire a Pallie?

American support for Israel remains their excuse d'jour. If they are so concerned about the plight of the poor Pallies, why don't they allow them to immigrate to their huge, lightly populated country? Why would they rather import a maid from the Phillipines or a house boy from Thailand than hire a Pallie?

American support for Israel remains their excuse d'jour. If they are so concerned about the plight of the poor Pallies, why don't they allow them to immigrate to their huge, lightly populated country?

I am not sure why I have to spend time defending Saudi Arabia, here. They are a Conservative society, and should have more support at this venue than they obviously do. But there seems to be little understanding of just how ticklish their position is, given the rampant fanaticism in today's world.

You point, above, shows a lack of understanding to say the least. The Palestinians are not Bedouins--at least not most of them. To suggest sending the largely urbanized Palestinians to a Bedouin culture is fair neither to the Palestinians nor the Bedouins. Would you solve the problem of Northern Ireland, by sending the Catholic minority to Andalusia or Guatemala? On the other hand, would you like to see the Saudi monarchy overthrown and succeeded by the sort of mindset that overthrew and succeeded the Iraqi monarchy? I would not!

Saudis are very suspicious of Palestinians in their country and also of other Muslims from Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan. They keep a control on the proportions of these nationalities in their population not to be overwhelmed by any single group. Some years ago, I think it was Saudi Arabia that expelled Palestinians from their country - I could be wrong on this. Does any one remember?

These are the people who have been putting up big funding to spread Wahhabist violent demon-possessed hatred against the West and Christians, in madrassas all over the world including right here in the USA, where naive male teens are turned into murdering terrorists.

Why should we cut them any slack. They know what they are doing, and so should we.

You have accepted a pernicious myth. The Saudi monarchy is presumed to be moderate Muslims and that they defend the world from the extremist Muslims. False. They are THE extremists. All the schools that they fund in Saudi Arabia and throughout the world teach 100% absolute pure hatred for the west and the values of civilization. There is not an Islamic terrorist group, excepting Iran's extremists, that they have not funded. They have not used their vast wealth to advance their nation. They have not developed any manufacturing, no industry. Their only industry is hate, to spread their deadly venom of pure Islam.

They have a long view. Remember they are still wailing over the wounds from the crusades. They are waiting for their chance to avenge the blood of all their shahids at the hands of the kafirs. They will quietly employ young Palestinians, Algerians, Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, and Lebanese to be their surrogates. But their hands are dripping with the blood of Americans.

Most of the Saudis are no longer Bedouins thanks to urbanization and the bonanza of oil wealth.

No, I don't expect them to take the Pallies, at least not the nut cases who won't be happy until they finish the job Hitler started.

But I do expect them to ease of the Israelis a little bit for trying to deal with the problem a lot more humanely than the Saudis and Kuwatis did during and immediately after the Gulf War.

Neither am I suggesting the 1/3rd Catholic minority in Northern Ireland be expelled to solve the problem there, although expelling the violent cases among them would do a service to both Catholics and Protestants who prefer to live as neighbors in peace.

Yes, Americans need to realize that Saudi Arabia has been at times a very helpful ally in stabalizing oil prices and keeping Marxism in their part of the world at bay. But Saudi Arabia likewise needs to realize it is in their own self-interest to support us even if we are largely an infidel nation whose morals shock their society.

Hell, the immorality imposed by Hollywood and the PC crowd shock more than a few of us! Instead of wailing about the Jews, their influence in our media, yada, yada, yada, they could use their oil wealth to buy a little of their own rather than depending on the often anti-American pro-Pallie media to get their message out.

"But as Arabs we do not like the American government. We believe it is controlled by the Zionists. The government works to destroy the Arabs. Is it true? I don't know; it is what we believe."

It is this part of the Arab world that we have just discovered and it's what we find so repulsive. They just hate Israel, they don't know why, they just do. They hate the American government for supporting Israel, they don't know why, they just do. They say they like us then fund the kind of people who come to our land, steal our airplanes, and fly them like megabombs into our skyscrapers and kill thousands of innocent civilians.

I used to be really fond of both the Saudis and the Kuwaitis, but no more. Except for the one Kuwaiti who purchased that wonderful Yule Log for our boys stationed over there, him I love. :o)

Saudi Arabia USED to be ruled by moderate Arabs when the king was in good health. However, since his brother, Prince Abdullah has taken over, the kingdom has changed considerably. The corruption of the royals is legendary now, with constant stealing from the government coffers. I've been reading some articles about some of the abuses and it would curl your hair. I'll bet it would really frost the king if he knew (but chances are, nobody will ever tell him).

If they feel so unfairly tarred, perhaps they should state exactly what they have done to fight terrorism, especially since the Sept 11th attack upon America. Perhaps they could publish a list of those they have interviewed, of those they have imprisoned, of the names of the family members of the known bin pigpen thugpile who attacked us...since so many came from Saudi. Perhaps, if anything, the Saudi's have been allowed to escape the sharp criticism that is their due.

If they feel so unfairly tarred, perhaps they should state exactly what they have done to fight terrorism, especially since the Sept 11th attack upon America. Perhaps they could publish a list of those they have interviewed, of those they have imprisoned, of the names of the family members of the known bin pigpen thugpile who attacked us...since so many came from Saudi. Perhaps, if anything, the Saudi's have been allowed to escape the sharp criticism that is their due.

Please note correction and let me add I am not anti-Muslim. There are very civilized varieties of the religion practiced in Turkey, Malaysia, Bahrain and even Saudi Arabia itself.

The more I read of the Koran, though, the harder I have reconciling a womanizing warrior with founders of other great religions such as Buddhism, Christianity and Zoraistism. Except for the relativly (less than 1500 year old) modern example of Mohammed, you have to go back to Greek or Roman mythology-based religions to find prophets or diety who were warriors and/or womanizers.

It's also 'traditional' to forcefully remove the clitoris of young girls without anesthetic. I suppose you think that makes it a 'conservative' thing to do.

Do you have one shred of evidence that that is a Saudi practice? I think that you are confusing countries.

What I cannot understand is the hostility towards a friendly Government. The conservative thing for Americans has always been to treat those with respect, who treat us with respect--and never, ever meddle in their internal affairs.

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